This collection specifically and solely focuses on Young Adult literature texts where cancer plays a prominent role, including widely-read texts like John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, Nicholas Sparks’ A Walk to Remember, and Jesse Andrews’ Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. The chapters present a variety of arguments, each developing a novel investigation into how these stories explore the effects cancer has on a person, a family, or on a relationship. As scientific studies continue to devlop new understandings of the biology behind cancer, and new sociological studies continue to uncover how a cancer diagnosis impacts the fabric of our culture(s), these collected essays continue to investigate how authors have woven cancer into the stories we write for young people. A number of distinct avenues are taken here, arguing for new approaches in crafting narrative, deeper appreciation for family support networks (or their absence), and what literary criticism can uncover when applied to cancer narratives.
Contributions by:
Sarah Minslow,
Abigail Bailey,
Alessia Silvestrin,
Jennifer Marchant
Edited by:
Stephen M. Zimmerly
Imprint: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 20mm
Weight: 449g
ISBN: 9781666927566
ISBN 10: 1666927562
Pages: 200
Publication Date: 20 December 2024
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Chapter 1: Monster Theory and Parental Loss in A Monster Calls Sarah Minslow Chapter 2: The Wilting Branch: The Effects of Cancer on the Family Unit Abigail Bailey Chapter 3: A Matter of Perspectives: How Pediatric Patients and Parents Cope with Cancer and Death in Ways to Live Forever and Before I Die Alessia Silvestrin Chapter 4: Last Things: Sick Protagonists’ Bucket Lists Jennifer Marchant Chapter 5: Grounded in Fantasy or Reality: Comparing real-life accounts of adolescent cancer with fictional themes of experience in popular YA texts. Katie Doering Chapter 6: “Oddest and Most Hopeless:” Leukemia, the YA Cancer Narrative, and Writing for Young Adults Stephen M. Zimmerly Chapter 7: Teenage Hospital Romance among the Cancerously Ill in Cellular and Too Young to Die Arka De Barman Chapter 8: EcoGothic and Bodily Decay in the Film Adaptations of A Walk to Remember (2002), Now is Good (2012), The Fault in Our Stars (2014), Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015), and Clouds (2020) Jesse Bair
Stephen M. Zimmerly is associate professor of English at the University of Indianapolis.
